Several telephone companies now offer caller identification (caller-ID) services for telephone users. These services enable the recipient of a call to identify the name and/or the phone number of the caller before choosing to accept the call. Telephone companies also provide a blocking service for those users who wish to remain anonymous.
Devices for processing the caller-ID information, including block codes, have proliferated as well. Typical devices include information processing circuitry in the device, usually comprising a controller and a memory, to show the caller's name and/or phone number on a suitable display device. Some device are further provided with circuitry from comparing the number of a calling party with stored information, and for classifying the call as either “wanted” or “rejected” based on the stored information. When the call is classified as “wanted,” the number is displayed to the user and a ring indication is provided to indicate to the user that a desired call has been received. When the call is classified as “rejected,” the number is displayed and the ring indication is disabled. An example of such a device is provided U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/540,532.
A caller-ID telephone is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,145. This device describes a caller-ID telephone, which compares the caller-ID information to stored information in the telephone device. When there is a match, the telephone displays the caller's name and number on the device. In addition, the device includes circuitry for causing the caller-ID device to spelling or speaks the name of the caller for the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,067,355 describes a caller-ID device and/or an integrated caller-ID and answering machine device which provides a method and apparatus for displaying caller-ID information for a call-waiting caller simultaneously with the caller-ID information of a present caller and a method and apparatus for enabling a caller-ID device to selectively dial the last seven digits of a phone number, the area code and the last seven digits, or a “1”, the area code, and the last seven digits of a phone number.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,498,841 describes a process in which the caller is notified of a call waiting with an audible call-waiting indicator. When standard caller identification is not available, prompting the caller identification provides the call-waiting indicator. In addition, the called party is presented “ . . . with call disposition options, such as options to accept or reject the call, route the call to voice mail or send a sales refusal message . . . ”. This invention focuses on the called party and party and prompts the caller for identification. The called party is then prompted for a disposition of the call.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,319 describes a method and system for providing a called party with audible caller identification information when standard cannot be provided. Calls for which standard caller identification is blocked, unavailable or incomplete are prevented from being connected to the called party. Instead of connecting the calls, a request for audible caller identification information is transmitted to the calling party. If the calling party provides the requested audible caller identification information, the audible information is transmitted to the called party. Although intriguing, this patent focuses on the case where the Caller ID information cannot be provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,110 provides enhanced “call blocking” features. The caller subscribes to a call blocking service and notifies the call blocking service which dialed telephone numbers are authorized and will be able to receive the caller's telephone information. Attached to the Caller ID information packet is a 2-bit message header. This message header identifies to the called party whether or not the signal is unblocked, blocked or encrypted. When the party receives the telephone call, and if the called party subscribes to the Caller ID service, the called party's caller ID box first checks the message header to see what type of message is being received. If it is a publicly available caller ID, the telephone number is merely displayed on the screen. If it is a completely blocked message, the caller ID box will display a message “UNKNOWN”, and block the telephone ring. This invention introduces an intermediate entity, which retains the selective call blocking choices by each subscriber. The message header contents, therefore, are controlled by the call blocking service.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,574,471 describes a apparatus and method for handling incoming calls during an operational mode for a portable intelligent communications device when a user thereof is engaged in a meeting, where the portable intelligent communications device is configured to handle each incoming call in an individual manner. When an incoming call is received while in such operational mode, a plurality of options is generated in a graphical user interface. The user of the portable intelligent communications device then activates one of the options made available for handling each incoming call. This invention focuses on providing t tool for the called party to be able to manage incoming calls, usually assumed to be some form of cellular telephone but not required. The caller is not involved with the disposition of the call.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,580,784 describes a system and method for notifying a user of an urgent telephone message. When a telephone or text message is received by the telephone answering systems, a priority is determined for the message. If the telephone call is identified as an urgent telephone call, the system repeatedly dials the subscriber's telephone in order to notify the user of the urgent message. In one embodiment, multiple locations, such as pager, email addresses, and alternate telephone numbers are contacted in order to information the user of the urgent message. When the user is contacted, the urgent messages are played for the user. A caller ID function can further be included to selectively allow messages to be identified as urgent based upon the identification of the caller. This patent gives the called party the option to define which Caller ID's will be deem as “urgent” and which Caller ID's will be deemed as “normal”.
With all of the above-described Caller-ID methods and devices that are currently available, the Caller Identification (ID) functions still only allow for limited information to be displayed at the receiving device. In most circumstances, the receiving telephone, cellular or wired only displays the caller's telephone number. In fewer cases, the name of the caller is displayed to the receiver. With only the telephone number or the caller's name information, there is no way for the receiver to determine the importance or urgency of the incoming call. Furthermore, there is no provision for the caller to indicate the importance of the call at the time the call is initiated. Consequently, the receiver of the call must guess at the importance of the call and/or the nature of the call by using only the caller's name or a displayed telephone number. When a call is placed from a public telephone, the receiver of the call has even less information to make a decision about the incoming call and how to allocate their time.
At the present time, there is no solution today, which allows a caller to send ‘urgency’ information to a receiver. Usually the caller will have to keep trying to telephone the receiver until he or she answers the telephone. There are technologies, which will automatically re-dial the receiver for a preset number of times before discontinuing the calls. Hence, the frequency of the calls usually indicates a form of urgency. This is obviously extremely inefficient. The current art allows the urgency to be sent when the receiver telephone rings to allow a snap decision as to whether the answer the telephone.
The ability for the telephone caller to be authenticated by the receiver when calling from a public telephone where the Caller ID is not enough information for the receiver. Today, the Caller ID is available for most telephone services where the receiver of a telephone call is alerted to which telephone number from which the caller is calling. Whilst this works well from cellular networks where there is a 1 to 1 mapping between cellular telephone and caller (i.e., I have my own personal cellular telephone) it does NOT work well for public telephones. Consider the following example:
Imagine that a teenager's car breaks down and the teenager walks into the “Bricks 'R Us” store to call their parents. When the telephone rings, the parents see “Bricks 'R Us” on the caller ID, and nominally elect not to answer it. However, that Caller ID value is followed by information, which tells parents that it is actually their child who is using the telephone. If the parents knew that their child was on the other end of the line, so the parents would answer the telephone.
This example illustrates a deficiency in the caller identification technology implemented today. The ability for the telephone caller to send arbitrary information to be appended to the Caller ID such that the receiver's device can receive and display the extra information without the receiver having to answer the telephone. The example above can be extended to allow arbitrary information to be sent along with the Caller ID to the receiver to allow the receiver to know whether to answer the call. Today, there is a pager service and SMS (short messaging service), which can be used to ‘text’ a receiver arbitrary information. SMS allows a caller to pre-send information to alert the receiver to answer a call, but this feature is NOT real time. Specifically, the text message must be sent first, and separately. The current art solves this problem where this arbitrary information can be sent AT THE SAME TIME that the call is mode, so that the receiver can make a real time decision to answer the telephone.
There remains a need for a caller identification method and system that will enable a caller to supply additional information about the caller identity and/or the nature of the call to be sent at the time of the call. The specific need that deserves attention is the capability to allow for a telephone caller to send additional information to the receiver, as specified by the caller, before the receiver answers the telephone. To accomplish this task it is necessary to address three main issues: 1) How can the telephone caller transmit urgency information directly to the receiver's Caller ID display, so that the receiver will not be required to answer the telephone to determine call urgency?; 2) How can the receiver of a telephone call authenticate the caller when the call is from a public telephone where Caller ID information is uninformative?; and 3) How can the telephone caller send arbitrary information to be appended to the caller ID such that extra information will be displayed without the receiver having to answer the telephone? The present invention will provide solutions to issues and describe other features that will enhance the telephone caller identification process.